Jeddah Tower is rising again — but Burj Khalifa has not lost its title
Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower has passed a major construction milestone, with project engineer Thornton Tomasetti saying the tower had surpassed 100 floors and 400 metres in an update dated 20 April 2026. For Dubai readers, the key point is simple: Burj Khalifa remains the current official world’s tallest building at 828 metres and remains open to visitors.
Jeddah Tower is above 100 floors
The strongest current project-team update says the Jeddah tower has passed 100 floors and 400 metres.
It is the clearest challenger to Burj Khalifa
Jeddah Tower is planned to exceed 1,000 metres, but it is still under construction and has not taken the official record.
Do not book around it yet
No verified public ticketing, hotel booking or visitor opening channel for Jeddah Tower was found in this check.
◷ Last checked: Sunday, 5 July 2026
◎ Practical impact reviewed
Verified by Best Of Editorial Team
Project-team, tall-building database and official record sources checked · No Burj Khalifa record change or Jeddah Tower visitor opening identified
Jeddah Tower may be designed to exceed Burj Khalifa’s height, but Burj Khalifa remains the official completed-building record holder until a recognised title change is made.
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The construction milestone is real, but the record has not changed — and Jeddah Tower is not open to visitors yet.
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THE FULL PICTURE
Jeddah Tower has passed a real milestone, but the world record is still in Dubai
Jeddah Tower, the long-delayed Saudi megatall planned for Jeddah, has passed 100 floors and 400 metres, according to a 20 April 2026 construction update from Thornton Tomasetti, the project’s structural design engineer.
The update is significant because Jeddah Tower is planned to rise beyond 1,000 metres. If completed and formally recognised, it would overtake Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which stands at 828 metres and has held the world’s tallest building title since opening in 2010.
That has not happened yet. Checked sources still list Burj Khalifa as the current official tallest building, while Jeddah Tower is listed as under construction. For readers and visitors, Burj Khalifa remains the practical, open, bookable observation-deck experience today.
WHY DUBAI READERS SHOULD CARE
Burj Khalifa still holds the crown, but Jeddah Tower is the clearest challenger
Burj Khalifa is more than a landmark for Dubai. It is part of the city’s global identity, a major visitor attraction and the official benchmark for the world’s tallest completed building.
Official Emaar and Burj Khalifa materials list the tower’s height at 828 metres. Guinness World Records currently lists Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the tallest building, with the same 828-metre height and an official opening date of 4 January 2010.
Jeddah Tower matters because it is not a speculative sketch. It is an active construction project with a named developer, architect, structural engineer, contractor and wider project team. But it is still not a finished, open building — and that distinction matters for the record.
AT A GLANCE
Jeddah Tower vs Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa: located in Dubai, developed by Emaar Properties and designed and engineered by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with Adrian Smith credited in official materials. Its official height is 828 metres and it remains open to visitors through official Burj Khalifa / At The Top channels.
Jeddah Tower: located in Jeddah, developed by Jeddah Economic Company and designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Authoritative project and tall-building sources describe it as planned to exceed 1,000 metres, rather than giving a newly verified exact final metre figure.
Status difference: Burj Khalifa is complete and open. Jeddah Tower is under construction. Thornton Tomasetti’s April 2026 update confirms that Jeddah Tower had surpassed 100 floors and 400 metres, but that is still well below Burj Khalifa’s 828 metres and below the planned 1,000m-plus final height.
CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE
From stall to restart to the 2026 milestone
Jeddah Tower had been stalled for years after earlier construction progress. Reporting around the pause has commonly pointed to disruption connected to contractor and financing issues, the Saudi anti-corruption period and later Covid-era delays, but Best Of has not found a current project-owner source giving one single definitive cause.
Work was formally relaunched through the project completion process before construction activity restarted in early 2025. The April 2026 update from Thornton Tomasetti then marked the clearest recent project-team milestone: more than 100 floors and more than 400 metres.
A 2028 completion date is widely treated as the project-side target, but it should not be read as guaranteed. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Skyscraper Center currently lists a later expected completion year of 2030, so the schedule should be treated as live and subject to change.
WHO IS BUILDING IT
The developer, architect, engineers and contractor behind Jeddah Tower
Jeddah Economic Company is the owner/developer named in major project references. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is the design architect and describes the tower as a mixed-use project planned to include hotel, office, serviced apartment, residential and observatory components.
Thornton Tomasetti is the structural design engineer and is the source of the April 2026 construction milestone. Saudi Binladin Group is identified in authoritative project records and project-side reporting as the main contractor or supervisory contractor for the tower.
Langan’s official portfolio page describes its work on geotechnical, civil, stormwater, foundation and circulation elements. RWDI is listed as the wind consultant. Dar Al-Handasah is connected to the Jeddah Economic City master-planning context and is listed in tall-building project records, while Turner International is listed as project manager in authoritative project databases and industry sources.
HOW RECORDS WORK
When would Burj Khalifa actually lose the title?
A construction milestone is not the same as a formal record change. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat measures architectural height from the lowest significant open-air pedestrian entrance to the architectural top, including spires but excluding antennae and similar technical equipment.
CTBUH criteria also distinguish an under-construction tower from a completed building. A completed building must be structurally and architecturally topped out, fully clad and open for business or at least partly occupiable.
That means Jeddah Tower could become taller than Burj Khalifa physically during construction before the completed-building title changes. For now, CTBUH lists Jeddah Tower as under construction, while Guinness World Records continues to list Burj Khalifa as the tallest building at 828 metres.
WHAT IS PLANNED
Hotel, homes, offices, observatory and Jeddah Economic City
Project sources describe Jeddah Tower as a mixed-use tower, not simply a viewing platform. Planned components include a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartments, residential units and an observation deck or observatory concept.
CTBUH lists Jeddah Tower’s observatory height at 652 metres. KONE’s project materials also refer to a high observation-deck journey and to the tower’s residential, commercial, office and hotel uses.
The tower is part of the wider Jeddah Economic City context near the Red Sea. Official design and engineering pages describe broader planning around the tower, but checked sources do not support treating the full district as complete or imminently open.
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
No tickets yet, no record change yet
If you are visiting Dubai, nothing has changed practically: Burj Khalifa remains open and official visitor experiences should be checked through the Burj Khalifa / At The Top booking channels.
If you are planning a Saudi trip around Jeddah Tower, wait for official visitor, hotel or observation-deck announcements. Best Of has not seen a verified public ticketing page, hotel booking page or opening date for Jeddah Tower as of this check.
The next meaningful milestones to watch are a newer official height or floor-count update, topping-out confirmation, façade completion, partial occupancy or opening details, and any formal update from CTBUH or Guinness World Records.
WHAT CHANGED
The verified update in one line
- 20 April 2026: Thornton Tomasetti said Jeddah Tower had surpassed 100 floors and 400 metres.
- 5 July 2026 check: No official source checked by Best Of showed that Burj Khalifa had lost the world’s tallest building title, or that Jeddah Tower was open or bookable to visitors.
OFFICIAL LINKS
Where to read the official material
- Thornton Tomasetti Jeddah Tower April 2026 construction update
- Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture Jeddah Tower project page
- CTBUH / Skyscraper Center Jeddah Tower page
- CTBUH Height Criteria
- Emaar Burj Khalifa official page
- Burj Khalifa official experiences page
- Guinness World Records tallest building record
WHAT WE CHECKED
Source basis and limits
Best Of checked project-team pages, tall-building databases, official Burj Khalifa material and record sources on Sunday, 5 July 2026. The latest strong project-team construction milestone identified in this research pass was Thornton Tomasetti’s 20 April 2026 update.
The main limits are that there is no public live official dashboard for Jeddah Tower’s exact current floor count, height, topping-out schedule, visitor opening date or ticketing. Future schedule and record status should be rechecked before publishing any new claim.
Need the full source ledger?
- Thornton Tomasetti was used for the 100-floor and 400-metre construction milestone and structural engineering role.
- Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture was used for planned height, design architect role and mixed-use programme.
- CTBUH / Skyscraper Center was used for Jeddah Tower’s under-construction status, height listing, expected completion listing and project roles.
- CTBUH Height Criteria was used to explain how completed-building height and status are assessed.
- Emaar, Burj Khalifa and Guinness World Records pages were used to verify Burj Khalifa’s 828-metre record status and visitor context.
- Langan, Dar Al-Handasah and KONE pages were used for supporting detail on project roles, master-planning context and planned tower uses.
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